Community Lounge, Introductions and General Discussion Discussion, I'm taking my toys, and going home! in General Discussion; When I was younger (~12 - late teens), I was REALLY into mountain biking. After riding several lower end bikes ...

When I was younger (~12 - late teens), I was REALLY into mountain biking. After riding several lower end bikes into the ground, my parents and I decided it would be best to go all out, and get one that would be able to handle heavy use (and a heavy rider) for several years. I actually had a pretty good amount of money saved up, as I'd been getting paid to work on family members' and friends of the familys' cars since I was about 12. Between that, and help from my mother, in 2004, I bought a Giant AC-1. For a 16 year old, that was like getting a Ferrari for a first car. It was a $3,000 bike, and over the next few years, I put about $800 into it in upgrades.

On Easter Sunday, 2009, I rode it to my grandmothers for dinner, and put it in her inside hallway. There are 2 doors between the sidewalk, and where the bike was, and you can hear them being opened from upstairs. When I went downstairs to leave, the bike wasn't there. I figured one of my cousins took it for a ride (them and my aunt live on the first floor of my grandmothers house. ...Nope, the bike was gone. At the time, my grandmother had Meals On Wheels, and we heard the doors once when the meals were delivered, and that day, it wasn't the usual driver. I drove down to the bakery that delivered the food, I was so pissed, I almost wanted to drive through the front door. They had already closed, but I banged on the door until the manager came out. I explained what happened, he told me he didn't like the kid, but we had no proof, so there wasn't much we could do. We filed a police report, and my grandmother claimed it on her house insurance. I got a "measly" $1,000 for it.

...Today, I was out, my phone was about to die, so I was going to go home to get the charging cable, as the one in my car had broke. Then I decided to just go buy a new one for the car. I drove to RadioShack, and a fairly distinctive and familiar tire sidewall caught my eye. I looked for a second... "That kinda looks like the ones I had on my bike". I looked for a second more, and noticed it was attached to a huge, flat black and bare aluminum mountain bike... "THAT IS MY BIKE!!!" I pulled right into the fire lane in front of the store, jumped out, and started looking at the bike. I immediately knew it was mine, most of the parts I had installed were still on it. Less than 30 seconds later, a guy walks up behind me, and just kind of looks at me. With my hand on the handle bars, I asked where he got the bike. He looked at me, puzzled for a second, and then told me it was his brothers, and he got it from him 7 years ago. "Oh yeah? Well where'd he get it? Because it's MINE.

To make a long story slightly shorter, I called the cops...about 5 times, and after about 45 minutes, they showed up. In that time, I had to tell the man several times that he was NOT leaving, and not taking the bike with him today. When the cops got there, I explained what happened. The guy repeatedly said he had paperwork, but refused to even call his brother. The cops seemed stumped as to what to do. I asked the officer, that since the bike was unlocked when they got there (it was chained to 2 other bikes when I got there), and I was the one standing next to it, and neither of us had paperwork on it, if there was anything they could do legally, if I got on the bike, and rode it home. "It's kind if a catch 22, we really can't do anything either way", he said. "Well he isn't taking it home. Either I'm taking it, or you are" and I asked him to take the bike into custody. I went home, found the manuals on the bike and the manuals of some of it's parts, took them to the station, and had them pull up the police report...

The bike's back at my house now .

It's a little scratched up, (it only had 2 TINY marks on it before it was stolen), and a couple of things are missing. A few hundred bucks, and it'll be back to how it was, other than the scratches.

orconn, believe it or not, I've only ridden friends bikes very briefly after working on them. I'm definitely going to start riding again though.

This guy was a moron. He removed the bottom bracket cassette (the bearing assembly that the pedal crank arms bolt to) at some point for some reason, and reassembled it incorrectly. Which made it off center ~3/4", which made the left crank arm scrape the left, lower suspension arm. I fixed it. There's a good little chunk of aluminum shaved off of the arm. It's not structural, but if the arm's still available, I'm going to replace it.

He got rid of my nice gel seat, and the seat post. He put on a seat post that was nowhere near the right angle, and the front of the seat he installed (which was barely padded and loose) stuck WAY up in the front. ...Since I'd really like to have children in the future, I got a new gel seat, and adjustable angle seat post.

My very nice, matte finish carbon fiber handlebar ends are missing, along with my bar grips. He installed some cheap rubber grips, with no bar ends. Apparently he just layed the bike on the ground all the time, as the end caps are all chewed up. I'll have to find some new carbon bar ends that I like, and probably a carbon bar too, just for looks. ...And probably some shifters, as they're scratched too.

The front caliper and lever/master cylinder were off when it was stolen, so that wasn't him. I had them off for cleaning, the pads were getting hung up and rubbing.

It doesn't seem like he messed with any of the suspension settings, which is good, because there are settings for compression, rebound, internal air pressure, and spring preload. Not something I enjoy doing.

When we texted yesterday and you said you got your bike back I was like awesomely happy for you when I found out it was a Giant I was like awesomely jealous of you. I always had giants they are my favorit. The giant. Iguana models where awesome